Mine-washing apparatus.



C. H. BOARDMAN. MINE WASHING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 17l 1910.

Patented Mar. 31, 1914.

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CHARLES H. BOARDMAN, OF COLUMBUS, OHIO, ASSIG-NOR 0F ONE-HALF TO THE'OPHILUS KING, OF QINCY, MASSACHUSETTS.

MINE-WASHING APPARATUS.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, CHARLES II. BOARD- MAN, of Columbus, in the county of Franklin and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mine- Washing Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

The object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus adapted to be used in mines, and particularly in coal mines, for clearing the air in the passages thereof of dust and iniiammable gases. Bituminous coal dust distributed in the air in large enough quantities, is an explosive even more dangerous and deadly to the miner than fire damp, and in any circumstances, whether in a coal mine or other mine, dust in the air breathed by the miners is detrimental to health, and disagreeable.

It has been my object to devise a washer capable of being moved through the passages or headings of a mine and adapted to discharge water or other liquid in a continuous unbroken sheet entirely across the lpassage generally in a vertical plane, and always in a plane transverse to the heading itself, thereby washing the dust from the air and thoroughly wetting the walls, roof and floor of the'passage. My purpose is not merely to sprinkle the floor of the mine,

vbut mainly to wet thoroughly the ceilings and walls of the mine and to wash the air to get rid of the objectionable, injurious and dangerous dust.

In the accompanying drawings, VFigure 1 is a rear elevation showing the arrangement of the Vsprinkler upon a tank car, the latter being shown in a mine passageway. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the sprinkler showing the mode of connecting it with the tank and driving it rotarily. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the same. Fig. 4 is a sectional view on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a sectional view on the line 5-5 of Fig. 2. Fig. 6 is a perspective view partly broken away of the sprinkler.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all the gurcs.

The washer is designed to be applied to a tank car which is drawn along the rails usually provided in mines for hauling the cars. Such a tank car is designated by the numeral 1 and is provided with traction wheels 2 which run upon the main tracks 3. On one end of the car is mounted the liquid Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 31, 1914. serial No. 561,882.

discharging device 4, which is preferably somewhat the form of a fiat conical disk and is mounted upon a shaft 5. The shaft is driven rotarily and turns in boxes 6, which are'connected to the car 1 by any suitable means such as a bracket 7. On the boxing 6 at the rear end thereof is a tubular nipple S which surrounds the shaft 5 and passes into the interior of the discharge device 4. This nipple has openings 9 to receive the water, which is led from a tank 10 supported on the car body to the nipple through pipes 11, of which there may be one, two or more passing from the rear end of the tank and connected by transverse pipe sections 12 to a short piece of piping 13 surrounding the nipple 8 and having tapped holes in which the ends of the pipe sections 12 are threaded. The pipe section 13 passes into the discharge device and is surrounded on the end next to the latter by a iiange 14 which fits closely about the pipe. The water or other washing fiuid is then allowed to flow through the pipes 11 and 12 into the nipple 8 and thence to the discharge device. The rate of iiow is controlled or the water is shut 0E entirely by valves 15, of which there is one in each pipe 11.

The discharge device is drivenl rotarily by suitable mechanism, which may have any one of various embodiments. A convenient form of mechanism which I have illustrated here consists of a shaft 16 carrying on one end a bevel gear 17 meshing with a gear 18 on the car aXle 19 and carrying at its other end a spur gear 2O meshing with a gear 21 on the sprinkler shaft 5. By virtue of this connection, whenever the car is moved the discharge device is rotated. I t is to be understood that of course other mechanical driving means may be used, such as a chain and sprocket drive or a friction drive from the wheel.

rlhe discharge device itself comprises in its construction two disks 22 and 23, one of which is preferably somewhat dished, and the other preferably plane, so that a space to receive the water is left between them. The two disks are somewhat separated at their peripheries, leaving a narrow outlet 24 for the escape of the water. Between the disks are blades or varies 25 arranged preferably radially, which are secured to both disks and serve to set the water in rotation, without appreciably obstructing the outlet. The latter is thus a nearly continuous slit extending throughout the entire peripheral extent of the discharger. rThe disk 23 closely surrounds the shaft 5 while in the center of the disk 22 is a larger opening which leaves an annular space around the shaft through which the water may pass into the interior of the washer. The area of the inlet 26 is greater than the total area of the rperipheral outlets 24, so that the centrifugal force generated by the rapid rotation of the disks causes the water to be put under pressure and to be forcibly expelled in all directions. The radial vanes or ytins 25 within the washer are of practical value in causing any water contained between the disks to rotate with it and thus become subject to the centrifugal force. let from the disks as compared with the larger inlet and the greater distance bet-ween the disks near the inlet than at the outlet, effects the desired result, -assisted somewhat by the vanes, of causing such pressure to be applied as to force the water outward in all directions upwardly as well as downwardly in a substantially continuous unbroken sheet to the walls and roof of the mine passage, thus causing the same to be thoroughly wet, and clearing away all the dust. This sheet of water is a wall or partition wholly crossing the passage and having no openings through which particles of dust might escape, and is thus an eHectual means of washing the air as well as the walls of a mine passage.

I claim,-

l. A mine washing apparatus comprising a liquid container, a rotary liquid discharging device having an inlet at its center and an outlet at its periphery, a shaft on which said discharge device is mounted, a tubular nipple surrounding the shaft and passing into the discharge device, being separated from the shaft by an annular space, and having a hole in its side, a short piece of piping surrounding said nipple, and a conduit leading from the liquid container to said piece of piping and secured thereto in line with the hole in the nipple, the opening from the nipple to the interior of the discharge device being greater than the total area of the outlet from the periphery of the latter.

2. A mine washing apparatus comprising a liquid container, supporting wheels on which the container is mounted, a shaft extending in thevgeneral direction of the travel of the container outside of the container geared to and rotated by said wheels, a discharging device mounted on said shaft and consisting of an outer disk secured to the shaft, and an inner disk fastened to the outer disk at a distance therefrom and having a ,central orifice, said disks beingcoaxial with the shaft andrthereby turning in a The restricted peripheral out-A plane transverse to the direction of travel of the container, a box in which said shaft has its bearing, said box having an enlarged tubular nipple surrounding the shaft and projecting to the inner disk of the discharge device, and a conduit leading from the container to said nipple, whereby liquid is conducted to the latter and thence to the discharge device, and the discharging device having so nearly a continuous narrow opening between the disks at the periphery thereof, that the liquid is discharged in a substantially unbroken sheet.

3. A mine washing apparatus comprising a car adapted to travel in thepassages of a mine, a liquid discharge device mounted upon said car rotatably and arranged to ro-tate in a plane transverse to the direction of movement of the car, the said discharge device consisting of disks, separated at their peripheries, and substantially radial vanes between said disks, one of the disks having an inlet opening approximately at its center, means for conducting washing liquid to said opening, and means for rotating said device, whereby the liquid admitted thereto is acted upon by said vanes and thrown outwardly by centrifugal force, the peripheral opening between the disks being substantially a continuous slit of which the total area is less than the area of the inlet opening, and being interrupted only by the said vanes which are of suchV slight'tliickness that the liquid issuing from the discharge device, issues in a substantially unbroken sheet.

4L. A mine washing apparatus comprising a tank having supporting means, a discharge device mounted upon said tank to rotate on a horizontal axis, mechanism for so rotating said device, and means for conducting water to the interior of said device, said device, being composed of two disks lwhich. are mounted in substantially vertical planes and are axially separated from one another inv such a way that a circumferential slit is provided at their peripheries, and the distance between their central portions is greater than the width of such slit, one of said disks having a central opening of which the area is greater than the tota-l area of the peripheral slit, and the means for conducting water thereto being arranged to discharge into such central opening andV having a conduct- Ying capacity greater than the discharge capacity of the outlet slit, and the discharge Vet leo

device having substantially 'radial vanes between the disks adapted to put the contained water in rotation when the discharge device is rotated, whereby such water is put under pressure Vby centrifugal force and caused to issue in a sheetl from the outlet slit, said vanes beingV of such slight thickness as to Vpermit-the discharged'water to form a substantially continuous sheet upon leaving the device.

5. A liquid discharge device for an apparatus of the character described comprising disks rotatably mounted side by side on the same axis with their peripheries close together and their central portions more widely separated, and substantially radial vanes crossing the space between said disks, one of said disks having an inlet at its central portion, the area of which is greater than the area of the slit-like outlet opening between the peripheral portions of the disks, whereby said discharge device, when fed with Water and rotating, is adapted to put such water in rapid rotation and to cause it to be expelled by centrifugal force, and said 15 vanes being suliciently thin to permit the water passing them to issue from the outlet of the discharge device in a substantially unbroken sheet.

In testimony whereof I have aiiiXed my 2o signature, in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES H. BOARDMAN.

Witnesses C. C. CLoUsE, J. T. GAMBLE.

copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

` Washington, D. C. 

